How to Upset Karen in One Fowl Scoop

 In Italy and all over the world there are pigeons. They are simply a fact of life, and I am a rare soul that enjoys seeing them! A bit of consistency in this world that is so often unpredictable. However on this particular day a pigeon made a mistake. 

It began as Shannon, Libby, Karen, Birgit, and I all sat in the outdoor section of a cafe. My mother wouldn’t let me have any more of her lemon granita and so I began idly dropping grains of rice onto the ground, subsequently attracting some pigeons. While wary at first the more rice and food matter I dropped the more they began to trust me. 

This was their first mistake.

The other mistake was on the part of Karen who implied that I could not catch a pigeon. So as the other people at the table continued eating their granitas I began to consider the pigeons at my feet and the subtle challenge that I had been issued. I thought to myself,     I’ve picked up a chicken and they are much bigger than this. 

So with the speed of someone who has spent many weeks lifting rocks in search of beetles and spiders to catch. One who has caught many fast chickens trying to not go back in their coop and many cats that don’t want to go to the vet. One who has the hand strength to give excellent massages and the ability to hold a squirming pit bull in place.

I reached down and found myself with a pigeon in my hand. I reached my other arm down to hold it properly still a little surprised at my success and turned back to my table, without a word, continued to hold the extremely surprised bird in my hands. The first one to notice was Karen who then SHREEKED at  the sight, alerting the attention of everyone else. We quickly all began to laugh and before Karen screamed again I released the shocked bird who flew away quickly. 

We continued to laugh for the next 5 minutes and I went washed my hands before touching anything else.

For anyone concerned about the bird, it was back by the table within 10 minutes although it did give ME a wide berth.

For anyone concerned about Karen, she is always distressed about something. I’m sure she’ll be fine. See below for pigeon glamour shots.